The BBC, Guardian and all other sources make no mention of the ethnicity of the attackers, constantly calling them “British tourists” or “British holiday makers”. Being born in a stable doesn’t make you a horse. I smelled a rat straight away, why would ethnically British tourists knife a fellow British solider? We love our soldiers, the people who attack our soldiers are the Muslims. Sure enough, the Mail has now revealed their identity, my spidey-sense was right!

Thug ‘knifed British soldier to death in bar fight in Cyprus while high on drugs after North-South row’ as three UK tourists are arrested over murder

David Collins, 18, stabbed during fight ‘between four off-duty soldiers and three British holidaymakers’

Three tourists appeared in court but have not yet been formally charged

Mohammed Abdulkadir Osman, from London, is alleged to have knifed the teenage soldier in the chest with a switchblade

A British soldier killed in Cyprus was targeted by a gang of thugs high on drugs and carrying flick-knives who had a ‘score to settle’, a court heard yesterday.

Private David Lee Collins, 18, was allegedly stabbed through the heart by Mohamed Abdulkadir Osman when the pair met in a nightclub following an earlier row sparked by North-South rivalry.

The fight between the trio and the soldier had begun earlier in the day when Private Collins, from Manchester, taunted Londoner Osman about his home region.

Accused: L-R; Tukki Abbas Shah and Umar Anwar, both 17, and Mohammed Adulkadir Osman, 19, all British tourists from London are escorted into a court in the town of Paralimni in Cyprus yesterdau

Osman told detectives that he was holding the weapon that killed the off-duty soldier in the early hours of Sunday but claimed he was acting in self-defence.

Today, his parents Lee Collins, 41 and Lisa Minott, 37, paid an emotional tribute read out by uncle Winston Riley at the Fusilier Museum in Bury.

The family said: ‘David was an amazing 18-year-old soldier with his whole life ahead of him. The Army was his number one priority in life and he proved to everyone that he could achieve this from a very young age.

‘David always thought about everyone else before himself. We are all extremely proud of our little soldier and we are all shattered by our tragic loss.

‘We are so happy that David was with his friends and colleagues at the Fusiliers at a memorable time of his life. We just hope that justice can do its course in Cyprus.’

David joined the Greater Manchester Army Cadet Force as a 12-year-old, and his family said he had ‘always dreamed of serving his country’.

Fellow soldiers from the 2nd Battalion joined the family in paying tribute to ‘a true fusilier’.

Tragic: Mr Collins was stabbed to death at an Ayia Napa nightclub in the early hours of Sunday morning

Osman, who is of Somali origin, is alleged to have confessed to possession of high-strength cannabis and buying 11 flick-knives and two brass knuckle dusters in the popular holiday resort of Ayia Napa.

However, he has claimed he was intending to take them back to London for friends.

He admitted there had been a previous altercation between the off-duty soldiers and the trio before the fatal fight in the Black ’N’ White nightclub.

But Osman maintained that Mr Collins, from Manchester, had ‘jumped on to the blade’ which he had drawn in an attempt to ‘scare off’ the soldier, who was enjoying a last night out before being sent to Afghanistan.

Famagusta District Court heard the police claim that three British passport holders had ‘a score to settle’ with Mr Collins and his comrades after an angry exchange in a pub in Ayia Napa Square, which was supposed to be out of bounds for British service personnel.

Cypriot newspaper Phileleftheros claimed that the exchange was ‘racist’, while another, Simerini, said it was the culmination of a petty argument.

Detectives are analysing CCTV footage of the area.

Lieutenant Stelios Christodoulou told the court: ‘They had a score to settle.

‘We are investigating whether the argument was about their different backgrounds, or whether they had met their victims before in England.

‘The fact that they took knives with them when they went out was suspicious.’

Police found two flick-knives – one with blood on the blade – outside the club following the fatal attack, the court heard. Lieutenant Christodoulou added that Shah – who, like Anwar, is of Pakistani origin – was seen dropping items shortly afterwards at the spot where the knives were later discovered.

Scene: The stabbing took place during a fight between four soldiers and three British tourists at this nightclub

Osman, who had a bandage around his right hand and a bruised right eye, told police that he did not mean to hurt the soldier and was sorry for what happened.

The accused had arrived on the popular holiday island just three days before the alleged murder last Thursday.

They were staying at the five-star Adams Beach Hotel in Ayia Napa. Police found the butts of three cannabis joints in an ashtray on the balcony and a sizeable quantity of the drug in the room along with the weapons. Osman admitted he had bought the weapons at a shop in the resort.

Yesterday the suspects arrived at the tiny Famagusta court in handcuffs. Shah and Osman covered their faces while Anwar looked up at two English-speaking women of Asian appearance – believed to be family members – who had been waiting outside the court for several hours.

The Britons have not been formally charged with the alleged murder but were remanded in police custody for a further eight days while detectives investigate the incident.

If charged they will stand trial in front of a judge without a jury.

A murder conviction in Cyprus carries a life sentence.

Mr Collins, of the 2nd Battalion, Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, died from a ‘ruptured heart caused by a sharp instrument’, according to a post-mortem examination carried out yesterday.

The fusilier was stationed at the British Army base at Dhekelia but was set to fly to Afghanistan early on Monday to take part in combat readiness training.

The soldier’s family have said that they have been ‘devastated’ by his death.

A Foreign Office spokesman said yesterday: ‘We are aware of the arrest of three British nationals in Ayia Napa and we are providing consular assistance.’

The centre of Ayia Napa was declared off limits to soldiers after the rape and murder of Danish tour guide Louise Jensen by three British servicemen in 1994.

Killed while off-duty: Tributes have been paid to Mr Collins, second left, on Twitter and a Facebook page has been set up in his memory

Up to 9,000 British military personnel and their family are stationed in Cyprus at bases retained after the former British colony gained independence in 1960.

Mike Glover, regimental secretary of the Fusiliers, said: ‘David was at the heart of the fusilier family.

He was a fusilier cadet where his enthusiasm and leadership qualities marked him out as a fusilier serving in the 2nd Battalion.

‘His commanding officer Lieutenant General Mike Butterwick has said that Fusilier Collins was a true fusilier, honest, hard-working and utterly loyal.

‘He wore his beret with pride and soldiering was his life. On behalf of all fusiliers we mourn the loss of one of our own.’

David was a former pupil at St Anthony’s Catholic College in Urmston.

A college spokesman said: ‘The community at St Antony’s College are devastated to hear of David’s untimely death. During his time here he developed into a thoroughly well-mannered pupil.

‘From a young age he spoke of his desire and determination to join the Army and he succeeded in fulfilling this dream. The college is immensely proud of the role he played.’

"Perhaps the oddest thing about the experts and police chiefs and reporters and editors and tenured professors who constantly tell us that these black-on-white atrocities aren’t racially motivated, is that blacks don’t believe that for a second. They know that they are racially motivated, they say so, and they celebrate them for it."
- Nicholas Stix